Prep baseball: First Baptist, Aristizabal outlast Community School for 3A-12 crown

In baseball, when a team has good pitching, there’s no such thing as an upset.

On Thursday night, First Baptist Academy didn’t have good pitching, it had great pitching as the Lions rode Nick Aristizabal’s three-hit, 10-strikeout performance to a 2-0 extra-inning victory over host Community School for the Class 3A-District 12 title.

The Seahawks swept the Lions in two regular-season matchups, but they hadn’t faced Aristizabal, a senior southpaw.

“I take my hat off to their pitcher,” CSN coach Chad Ott said. “The kid pitched a phenomenal game. Sometimes it comes down to a pitcher’s duel, and that’s what we had tonight.”

As sharp as Aristizabal was on Thursday, he was matched pitch-for-pitch by CSN starter Will Jauss, who threw six innings of no-hit ball before yielding an infield single in the seventh. Jauss also allowed just three hits along with seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

“(Jauss) threw an amazing game,” Aristizabal said. “We were both in a zone. It was tense. But we pulled it out when it mattered.”

The Lions will host 3A-11 runner-up Evangelical Christian on Wednesday, and the Seahawks will travel to Canterbury in regional quarterfinals.

With the game scoreless after seven innings, First Baptist faced Jauss in the top of the eighth. A hit batter, wild pitch, RBI single, and two errors later, the Lions led 2-0. The key hit came on Blake Smith’s RBI single.

“I was a little icy coming out for the eighth,” Aristizabal said. “But I pulled through for the team.”

The Seahawks had men on first and third with two out in the eighth before Aristizabal induced a 1-3 grounder for the final out.

“I told our team before the game, ‘It’s a new life now in the postseason,’” FBA coach Billy Sparacio said. “It’s all about how you perform now. We had an opportunity to do something special and the kids stepped up.